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I do know that the Soviets deployed their 9th and 12th Armies to occupy Bessarabia, the northern part of Bucovina and Herta district late June 1940.
But does anyone know how many soldiers were fielded for this occupation as of June 28th, 1940?

If the numbers recorded of 32 rifle divisions, two motorized divisions, six cavalry divisions, eleven tank brigades, one air assault corps, I think that these figures should be as high as 700 000 men and 2 000 tanks. What do you think?

Well, Mikhail Meltyukhov wrote in 2000 that the forces deployed against Romania included 12, 5, and 9 Armies of the South Front with 32 rifle, 2 motorized, 6 cavalry divisions, 11 tank and 3 airborne brigades. By his estimate they included about 460 000 men, 12 000 guns and mortars, and about 3 000 tanks. Air forces of the SF included 45 air regiments with 2160 airplanes. Later on (2008) Melthyukhov updated this estimate giving the Soviet strength by "incomplete count" as 637 149 men, 9451 guns and mortars, 2461 tanks, 359 armored cars, 2262 airplanes. However, he notes that only a part of these forces were actually moved across the former frontier line.

Preceded that of other countries and started in 1930 when parachute battalions, or rather airborne battalions were established. By 1938 their airborne troops had been organized into brigades. In 1940, three of them, the 201st, 204th and 214th Airborne Brigades, were used in the air assault against Bessarabia. Cavalry and armored car formations of the land forces would carry out a fast advancement in the directions of two cities of key importance Izmail and Bolgrad. The plans that had been prepared for the airborne units in case of resistance was to occupy towns, to prevent the withdrawing Romanian Army’s any attempt to detonate military objects, bridges, rail lines, road and industrial infrastructure as well as to secure the area until the arrival the cavalry and mechanized troops. The three airborne brigades were united at the airports 350 km-s away from the target area. The task of transportation was accomplished by 170 TB-3 planes. Out of the three brigades only two ended up employed, the third one was left in reserve.

On June 28, Soviet rifle and tank units crossed the Soviet-Romanian border. On the morning of June 29, the 204th Airborne Brigade was landed in the town of Bolgrad using 99 TB-3 aircraft of the 209th heavy air brigade. In total, 1372 people were air landed.

―KIEV, June 29. Advancement of Soviet forces in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina is running smoothly. Today, the Soviet forces have entered the towns of Storozhinets and Hertz in Northern Bukovina, and occupied the Novoselytsia and Lipkany stations (both on the Prut River, south of Hotin). Mechanized units approached the Prut River, 55 kilometers south-west of Mogilev-Podolsky, and entered the area of the Pyrlitsa town, 80 kilometers north-west of Kishinev. Parachuted airborne units occupied the city of Bolgrad in southern Bessarabia, a few kilometers away from the town of Reni, at the confluence of the Prut River and the Danube. (Krasnoye Znamya. 1940. July 2).

Sources: The Soviet Airborne Experience [Illustrated Edition]. Colonel David M Glantz.http://www.afahc.ro/ro/revista/Nr_1_200 ... ksanyi.pdf
The occupation of the northern Bukovina by the USSR. Cezar CIORTEANU
The Annexation of Bessarabia and Bukovina in the Pages of the Soviet Periodical Press (based on the Materials from the Krasnoye Znamya Newspaper) Konstantin V. Taran.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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On June 30, the 201st airborne brigade (809 paratroopers) was airdropped in the Izmail city. The operation involved 44 TB-3 aircraft with 809 paratroopers on board. Of these, 240 soldiers landed at the city airport and 509 were parachuted. Three aircraft (60 soldiers on board) had to return to their airfields due to technical reasons. On July 1, units of the 204th airborne brigade occupied the Cahul town. The use of airborne units allowed Soviet divisions to rapidly reach the new border with Romania.

The newspaper reported: ―KIEV, June 30. Soviet forces fulfilled their mission in the northern part of Bukovina and reached the established border with Romania. In Bessarabia, Soviet forces are completing their entry to the area of the new border with Romania, that is, in the area of the Prut and the Danube Rivers.

Mechanized units took control of the Ungheni railway station on the east bank of the Prut River, in front of the Jassy city. The motorized infantry supported by tanks entered the Cahul town on the Prut and to the Reni town at the confluence of the Prut and the Danube. Airborne units occupied the Izmail city on the Danube River.

On June 28 – July 3, 1940, units of the Southern Front of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army completed an operation to annex Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Following this operation, the Soviet Union received territories with an area of over 50 thousand sq. km and a population of more than 3.7 million people. Romania lost 17 % of its territory, and 18.9 % of the population. On August 2, 1940, a Law was passed on the formation of the Union of Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic.

The deployment of the Soviet troops on the new borders was completed by July 1. The Krasnoye Znamya wrote: ―Kiev, July 1. Soviet forces mounted defenses on the established border with Romania in northern of Bukovina. In Bessarabia, Soviet forces fulfilled their mission and reached the border with Romania all along the Prut and Danube.

After July 10, 1940, the Krasnoye Znamya newspaper published no reports on the life in Bessarabia and Bukovina – the territories became part of the Soviet state.

Sources: The Soviet Airborne Experience [Illustrated Edition]. Colonel David M Glantz.http://www.afahc.ro/ro/revista/Nr_1_200 ... ksanyi.pdf
The occupation of the northern Bukovina by the USSR. Cezar CIORTEANU
The Annexation of Bessarabia and Bukovina in the Pages of the Soviet Periodical Press (based on the Materials from the Krasnoye Znamya Newspaper) Konstantin V. Taran.

Cheers. Raúl M .

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